Michael Madden's Writing Blog

Tuesday, 15 August 2017

Tomorrow sees the 40th Anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley. Its going to be a busy day - with Ex-Pat radio in the morning, BBC Radio Sheffield at lunchtime and Oldham Community Radio in the evening.

The Ex-Pat session features Mindi Miller, one of Elvis's ex girlfriends. It promises to be an interesting couple of hours.

Thursday, 27 July 2017

In August 1977 the
world stopped when Elvis Presley passed away. As we acknowledge the 40th
anniversary of his passing, it is appropriate to remember the full extent of
the man’s legacy, a legacy that continues to grow. Elvis Under The Covers
explores his influence through the artists that have recorded his most often
covered original songs. We asked author Michael Madden about the book.

What gave you the idea to produce an Elvis Presley book that’s
not just about Elvis Presley?

I
was asked by my 13-year-old son Zac, “Why is Elvis Presley so famous?” That’s a
tough question to answer! He was comparing The King to Justin Bieber, and
especially their respective hits on YouTube. I explained that Elvis passed away
28 years before YouTube was even created, and that Elvis’s legacy is there for
all to see, and will remain forever so. And of course it is, but if you don’t
go looking for it you might find yourself swamped with Bieber and completely
overlooking the most important musical icon that ever lived! So I put this
together to show the legacy through those that have covered Presley’s songs.

The book has an impressive list of
contributors, including Suzi Quatro. How did that come about?

I
was researching a particular Elvis impersonator who, by coincidence, came from
my home town. He responded quite quickly, and he seemed genuinely pleased to be
asked about his passion. So I emailed some more people, and very soon I had a
deluge of responses. One of the first was Mary Coughlan who came across as a
really warm person as we exchanged emails about being grandparents, Ireland, music
and, of course, Elvis Presley. She inadvertently encouraged me to be more
ambitious, and when I got a response from Suzi Quatro I was a bit more than
pleased. I remember Suzi on Top Of The Pops when I was around 13 or 14. Dressed
from head to toe in black leather and strutting her stuff with a bass guitar.
She was my first real crush, and now here she was emailing me. She has a real ‘connection’
with Elvis, and she just wanted to give more, so I asked her if she would write
the foreword. She didn’t hesitate, and within a day or so we had the finished
piece. I think as well that you just have to imagine these people as just that
- people! They are only human, and if you can get through the layers of
management they are only too pleased to offer words, which says a lot about the
individual artists and even more about Elvis.

Did any refuse?

Yes,
of course. There were many I didn’t get a reply from, and a couple of artists
who didn’t want to contribute, but they did at least take the time to reply!

Whose response thrilled you the most?

Well
that has to be Suzi Quatro for the reasons already stated. But it would be
unfair to single her out. Eddi Reader gave me a really nice quote, and to
receive responses from Wanda Jackson, Stella Parton, Tanya Tucker, Al Kooper, well,
there are just so many. Oh, and I mustn’t forget Kenny Vance. Kenny didn’t just
want to give me a sentence, so he called me. We spent a very fine Sunday
morning discussing Elvis, the 1950s, Brooklyn and Doo Wop. Another memorable
one came from Ondřej Hejma of Czech band Žlutý Pes. When you read that you
realise how lucky we are to have easy access to arts, culture and especially
everything Elvis.

Why the top tens?

Oh,
that was just a bit of fun! A book full of facts and figures should hopefully
generate lots of debate – so I thought I would get mine in first!

Rock and roll entertainer Mike Sanchez
has provided several pages, I believe there is some history there?

Yes,
I wrote Mike Sanchez Big Town Playboy, which is Mike’s authorised biography. It
was a lot of fun, and I got to meet Robert Plant, Jeff Beck and several other
great artists. We still keep in touch, and I go to see him whenever he is in the
area. Truly one of the greats, and when it came to Elvis he jumped at the
chance to write a few paragraphs. Of course, when you are Mike Sanchez you have
to be a bit over the top – so it ended up being several really well written
pages.

That was published by Music Mentor Books.
Did you approach them about this book?

No.
George Groom-White at Music Mentor is one of the most professional people that
I have ever come across. A real perfectionist and a pleasure to work with. But
this was more a labour of love and I wanted full control, including putting it
out on Kindle which George is not really keen on.

Is it a lot more work?

It
is in the sense that I have to do all of the design and the typesetting, though
Createspace provide templates so its really quite easy. I had a copy editor for
the Big Town Playboy book, and I have 2 editors working on this one. There’s a
lot of cross checking and re-reading, but that’s the same with any book. I have
to give a shout to Hollie Crankshaw who created the artwork for the cover. She
is very talented, and I am sure she has a great career ahead of her. I worked
with her previously on The Raven, an adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe’s work that
I wrote for the Buxton Festival Fringe. She provided makeup and special effects
for four bizarre characterizations and they were superb. August promises to be
a whirlwind, with 5 radio interviews in the pipeline and several book signings,
with hopefully more to follow.

Most of the book is dedicated to those
who have recorded Elvis’s songs rather than Elvis himself. Do you think that will
put people off?

Not
really, because its all about Elvis’s legacy. These people, by their sheer diversity,
extend that legacy to their own fans and music lovers the world over. I mean,
they range from Bob Dylan to Daffy Duck, and from classical to punk. Just about
every genre is covered, including some great jazz performers.

What’s next?

Who
knows?! I have published books on music, cookery, adult fiction and children’s
rhymes. At one time I did think …Under The Covers could be a series, with maybe
Chuck Berry next. I’ll have to see how this one goes. I have got a teen fiction
zombie book that should be out for Christmas, and a sequel to my cookery book!
You can find details at www.michael-madden.co.uk.
Hopefully I will find time to update my website some time soon!

Elvis
Under The Covers by Michael Madden is available from Amazon in paperback and
Kindle from August 2017.

Wednesday, 19 July 2017

The hopefully final edits are complete and the book is off for review again. Next proof should be here within a week which allows me to get back to marketing!

Already got 3 radio slots booked, including BBC Radio Sheffield and Oldham Community Radio. I will publish a full list on the FB page.

One of my favourite quotes is from Ondřej Hejma of Czech band Žlutý Pes - I guess most of us cannot imagine what this would be like!

Elvis’s music was so strong you could hear it on the other side of the Iron Curtain. It was like a ray of light in those dark times. We knew very little about him, saw none of his movies, but the music was good enough all by itself.

Saturday, 8 July 2017

When Elvis Presley walked in to Sun studios in 1953 who could ever have known that his success would spawn a whole new career choice of 'Elvis Impersonator', and that career choice would itself hold national and international competitions as well as having its own Hall Of Fame?

There are some famous singers who could be classed as Elvis Impersonators, such as Freddie Starr or Les Gray who adopted the persona of Tulsa McLean, but my own favourite is Sweden's Eilert Pilarm.

I will let you make your own mind up about Eilert, he has had hundreds of thousands of YouTube hits, and he has reputedly played at Graceland. His songs were regularly featured on John Peel's radio show, and he was the Best Swedish Elvis Impersonator of 1999. It is unknown who the opposition were!

Friday, 7 July 2017

In August 1977 the world stopped when Elvis Presley passed away. As we acknowledge the 40th anniversary of his passing, it is appropriate to remember the full extent of the man’s legacy, a legacy that continues to grow. Elvis Under The Covers explores his influence through the artists that have recorded his most often covered original songs. These are Can't Help Falling In Love. In The Ghetto, Don't Be Cruel, Heartbreak Hotel and Jailhouse Rock.

Glam rock legend Suzi Quatro has provided the foreword in which she describes the times that Elvis Presley touched her life, and when she touched his.

Mike Sanchez explains the influence that The King had on his life and his career.

There are also personal contributions from many of the artists featured in the book, including Eddi Reader, Mary Coughlan, Chris Spedding, Tanya Tucker, Wanda Jackson and Stella Parton.

These musicians, singers, actors and performers cover the whole spectrum of musical entertainment, from fame to obscurity, from number 1 hit makers to the occasionally bizarre, from cartoons to classics, and from religion to rock and roll.

It is not often that a book can legitimately mention Bob Dylan, Andy Williams and the members of The Beatles alongside Bugs Bunny, Stephen King and a camembert cheese (the reader will have to search for that one!) However, on a journey through this legacy there are many unusual connections, including a tenuous link between Jona Lewie and Howlin’ Wolf! The one thing that binds them all together, the essence of the journey that they have all chosen to take, is the elixir that is Elvis Presley.